A Portrait of the 5 Paragraph Writer as a Young Man

When I was in high school, I wrote a variety of different types of papers-- the five paragraph, the compare/contrast, authentic research, journal response, and even one personal narrative. I was particularly fond of writing papers because it gave me the opportunity to respond to a book, explore its "hidden meanings," and ultimately arrive at some sort of conclusion. My English teachers were all incredibly helpful and I was fortunate enough to attend a school with a tons of computer labs. Looking back at my experience, it is easy to identify a multitude of access points, which effectively made it difficult for me not to understand the ins and outs of academic writing.

But for others, I wonder if the multigenre paper would be welcomed as an alternative. To me, its most obvious advantages is that it allows students to personalize their education and the content within the class. Using the best research paper I wrote in high school, which explored whether graffiti was an art or a crime, I can imagine how a multigenre paper would have looked:

As Romano notes, a multigenre paper should start with a preface, or foreword, announcing the intentions of the author. I would explain its purpose, why I am interested in it, and what I hope to explore through the contents of my paper.

Next, I would probably have started with a poem.... something like...

Walking between some buildings on the way to a friends
the beauty of a back alley makes me pause to take in
tags from 98, many years in the past,
I put a couple down too, hopin' half of 'em last.
Then I change route, to let it cool down in the park,
'cause now a days droppin' tags ain't considered an art...
Though its cool to wear shirts with the words all written
in a style influenced by an act thats forbidden...
I can calculate the risk, weigh the pros and the cons,
perspective of both sides, like the rights and the wrongs:
To one man its damage, he laments his loss,
the other man will measure life with the tags he drops.


Next, I could add any number of conversations I've had with my parents over the years.

"Sam, I really wish you'd do something with that art of yours."
"I am doing something with it, you just don't really understand it."
"I understand it perfectly fine, but what YOU don't understand is that someone owns everything you've ever painted on."
"But I don't paint recklessly, I never paint on private property or even property where people like my parents would see!"
"In the eyes of police, that hardly matters. Am I going to see you on The People's Court someday?"
"UUuuuuughhhh, forget it."


Of course, I could really go on forever with different ideas to put into my multigenre paper, and isn't that absolutely the point?! This genre really allows the writer to thoroughly explore a topic and relate to it in a meaningful way. To be honest, the five paragraph essay fails miserably at this. I was proud of the graffiti research paper I did in high school, but I do remember that I, as an artist, had no place within the paper. Though I had knowledge and experience which were applicable to my research, I chose not to include my personal anecdotes because it didn't "fit within the neat, prescribed formula" of the thesis (Wesley, 58).



A resource: The Great Debate Over the Five-Paragraph Essay

This is a great article I found concerning the five-paragraph essay debate. The article is hosted by www.associatedcontent.com which is a Wikipedia, of sorts.